Jill was back again, the next afternoon when I got home. She was upstairs, in the room she was staying in, (I wouldn't call it

her room), is what Hannah told me when went into the kitchen.

"Did her friend bring her home?" I asked, in curiousity.

"No. She called for a ride, and Crane went to pick her up in town," Hannah said.

"It's like she was hiding this friend of hers from everybody," I said. "Otherwise she would have had them bring her

back home instead of having Crane give her a ride."

"Harlie," Hannah said, without looking up from her task of chopping fruit for the fruit salad she was preparing.

"Think about it," I coaxed, going to the cabinet to take down a glass, and filling it with water.

"I have thought about it," Hannah said, unexpectedly.

"Really?" I asked, surprised a bit by her sharing that with me, instead of just telling me flat-out to quit.

Now Hannah looked up, and met my eyes. "Of course," she said, quietly. "I worry about Daniel, too, you know."

"I know you do," I said.

"It's not going to help anything sitting and thinking of scenarios of what we're worried about," Hannah said.

"I guess," I said. I leaned against the cabinet, drinking my water, and said, "I talked to Daniel when he got home from

work last night," I confided.

"You did?" she asked.

I nodded. "He was hungry, too. I fixed him a sandwich."

"I'm glad you did that," Hannah said, and smiled at me. "But, I have to add the rest of it-don't make a habit of

staying up like that on a weeknight. Okay?"

"I won't do it all the time," I promised.

I set my glass in the sink and said, "I guess I better get outside to do my chores." I paused at the back door, my hand on the

door handle. "Has Adam decided about the weekend yet? About me going with Kenny and his parents?"

Hannah met my eyes, pausing in her slicing of the grapes. "You need to talk to Adam," she said, gently.

"He's gonna say 'No', isn't he?" I said, dejected. I could tell, just by the way she'd answered me.

"I'm not saying that he's one hundred percent made up his mind," Hannah said.

"But, he's leaning towards 'No'," I surmised.

"Go talk to him," Hannah said, and I knew I wasn't going to get anything more about it from her.

I went to tend to my goats, and then fed the barn cats. After that I went to take feed Pepe and give him fresh water.

I put on my gloves and took him out of the stall, and held him for a few minutes. I was sitting on the barn floor, leaning

against the stall door, holding him and talking to him, when Brian and Adam came into the barn. Brian had rope over one

shoulder.

They came in, and kept talking at first, not seeing me sitting there. When they did, Brian walked over and said, "Hey."

"Hi."

He went to hang the rope up and then said he was going in to talk to Clare.

"I'll be back out," Brian said. "You ready to head up west in about what-ten minutes?" he asked Adam.

"Ten is good," Adam said, and Brian headed towards the house.

Left in the barn with Adam, I watched as he sorted thru the shelves as though he was searching for something.

"What're you looking for?" I asked, from my spot on the floor.

"I thought there was some fence clamps here, somewhere," he said.

"Oh," I said. After a couple of minutes, he sighed, and turned away from the shelves. I guessed that he was giving

up on finding the clamps. I knew it probably wasn't the best time-since he was likely frustrated over not locating what he

was looking for. Still-there's never a perfect time for asking Adam or anybody else about something important.

He looked as though he was concentrating, thinking. Probably trying to figure out where the heck the clamps had gotten to.

"Adam?" I said, and he turned to look at me.

"Hmm?"

"Have you made a decision about the weekend?"

Adam gave me a long look, and then he came over beside me, and crouched down next to me.

"I'm sayin' 'No' this time, Harlie," he said, sort of quietly.

"Nothing's going to happen, Adam," I said, in automatic protest. "Kenny respects me."

"I'm glad that he does. That's what I want for you, with whoever you date, now and in the future. But, I just don't feel

like it's the right thing-for me to let you go."

He actually had a note of regret in his tone, as though he didn't want to disappoint me.

I was so disappointed. Even though I'd nearly expected this as his answer, it was still disappointing.

"It's not that I don't trust you, sugar. Or Kenny. It's not because of anything like that that I'm saying 'No'. I just want

you to not move so fast," he said.

"How is that moving so fast?" I asked. "It's just an overnight visit to his grandma's."

"It's more than that. It's a new level," Adam said. "I want you to slow down."

I looked away, down at Pepe on my lap. All I could think of was Kenny's offer of the promise ring. If Adam thought that

spending a night at Gram Ida's was moving too fast, what in the world would he think if he knew about the promise ring?

I wasn't going to say anything in protest. I wasn't.

"Okay," I said, avoiding his eyes.

He reached out and patted my knee, and then moved to stand up.

"Kenny's comin' over after supper," I announced, still not looking at him. It wasn't exactly a challenge-

"Okay," he said, easily enough.

"Okay," I echoed.

He left and and I put Pepe away, going inside to wash up, and help set the table for supper. Inside, I was not happy.

I was irritated about Adam not letting me go. I dreaded telling Kenny although I knew he wouldn't say a whole lot.

He'd be disappointed, but he wouldn't say anything to disrespect Adam. Not even to me.

By now Clare was in the kitchen, too, along with Hannah. And Crane was there, too, taking spaghetti off the stove, and

draining it.

"Did you make the spaghetti?" I asked him, watching as he mixed spaghetti sauce into the noodles.

"Yep. I did," he said.

Jill came into the kitchen, just as Guthrie and Adam and Brian were coming into the back door and going to wash their

hands at the sink. Adam ran his hand over Hannah's back in a gesture of affection.

"No Evan or Nancy for supper?" Hannah asked him.

Adam shook his head. "No. He said they were going in to have supper with Nancy's dad."

Hannah nodded in response, and Jill took a seat at the table, as Adam took Isaac out of his walker, and sat him in

his high chair.

"Is it alright if I use the washer and dryer after we eat?" Jill was asking, in a general way.

"Of course. I think the dryer's empty," Hannah said.

"I want to wash up some of the clothes I bought," Jill was chattering on. "I always have to do that, or else I'll break

out in a rash."

I rolled my eyes, not even worrying about anybody seeing.

"Do you have any Tide, up in the cabinets in the basement?" Jill was asking now.

"No. We don't use Tide, usually," Hannah said.

Tide is one of the more expensive detergents. And, even with coupons, it's still more than Purex, so we usually use that. With

as big a family as we have, we go thru alot of detergent, so we have to buy the least expensive. Hannah didn't say any of that,

though.

"It's best for sensitive skin," Jill said, taking the bowl of meatballs from Crane as he passed it to her. "I really prefer it."

I rolled my eyes again, and looked across the table to see that Crane had caught me at it.

He raised one eyebrow just slightly at me, and I subsided, going back to my meal.

After supper, I helped clear off the table, as did everybody else. Clare took Isaac upstairs to get him washed

up. Jill went upstairs, too, (likely to gather up all those new clothes of hers), and I was glad, glad glad when Guthrie set some plates by the sink, and said,

"How come she can't just use the detergent we have already?" in a general way, and not to anybody

in particular. "Why's she gotta complain about everything?"

"Shush," Hannah said, putting a finger against her lips.

"She's upstairs, Hannah," Guthrie said. "She can't hear me. Besides, it's the truth."

"Guthrie," Adam said, his tone sharp.

Guthrie turned immediately to look at Adam, his eyes widened in surprise at Adam's tone.

"Jill's a guest here," Adam said, in a very low voice. "Remember that."

"Okay," Guthrie said, but he didn't say it in a real respectful way. More like this. "Ohkaaay."

Adam's face became a thundercloud.

"Guthrie James," Adam began, just as Jill came down the back stairs, her arms full of clothes. She paused at the

edge of the kitchen.

"I guess I'll head down and get this load started," she said, and when Hannah smiled and Adam nodded, and Guthrie and I

were silent, Jill opened the basement door, and headed down the stairs.

Adam stepped over and softly closed the door after Jill, and then turned back to Guthrie.

It was one of those bad sort of silences. Adam looked mad, and Hannah looked as though debating whether to

mediate, and Guthrie, I could tell, was a bit resentful and wary, as well, waiting for Adam to say more. I, myself, felt

that Guthrie hadn't said anything that shouldn't have been said.

"It's not your place to try to correct Jill's behavior," Adam said, now, his tone still really low.

"All I said was that she shouldn't complain about stuff around here," Guthrie protested. "That's all, Adam."

"That's right," I spoke up in a loud whisper, in Guthrie's defense. "If she wants stupid Tide, then she ought to buy it herself-"

"She's got no money," Guthrie said. "So Daniel will have to buy it for her. Instead of sponging money off of him, she

ought to use what's here, and not complain." He paused, and the room crackled while Adam surveyed both of us.

"I'm not sayin' that you don't have a point," Adam conceded. "But there's no call for you to be disrespectful about it, and answer

Hannah like you did."

Immediately, Guthrie looked chagrined. "I wasn't meanin' any disrespect to Hannah," he said. He looked at Hannah,

his forehead wrinkled. "I didn't mean any of it for you," he assured her.

Hannah reached out and put her hand on his arm. "I know that, Guthrie," she said, softly.

I guess Guthrie was remembering that 'Ohkaaaay' that had made Adam bull up. I could tell he was embarrassed, but he

said, "I'm sorry about answerin' you like I did, Adam."

Adam looked really serious for a long moment, and then he said, quietly, "I know it's not been the easiest."

"I don't like it that she takes advantage of Hannah," Guthrie went on.

"Me, either," I echoed.

"We've already discussed this," Hannah said, also in a loud whisper.

It struck me then how strange we all must look, gathered there, in a huddle, and speaking in such low tones and whispers, just so

Jill wouldn't overhear us.

"What's this?" Adam asked, looking confused.

"It's nothing," Hannah whispered.

"She runs all over Hannah," I spoke up, in an agitated whisper.

"Yeah," Guthrie agreed.

"I've told you both-" Hannah began.

"Hold on," Adam said, in a regular tone of voice, holding up a hand. He motioned towards the back door. "Let's step

outside."

So the four of us stepped outside, and Adam closed the door firmly behind us.

"I'm weary of whisperin'," he said, in explanation, speaking in a regular tone of voice, though still not overly loud.

"What's this about?" he asked.

Neither Guthrie nor I said anything at first, waiting for Hannah.

"The kids think that I'm letting Jill take advantage of me," Hannah said, carefully. "We've already discussed it," and now she

gave Guthrie and I a warning glance, "And I've told them that it's not anything that I can't tend to myself."

Guthrie had a stubborn look on his face, and I knew that my own probably resembled his in that.

Adam was looking still confused, as if he'd walked into a movie that had already started.

The sides of his jaw were tense, though. A sure sign that he's mad.

"It sounds like we have some talkin' to do," he said, looking at Hannah. Turning back to Guthrie and I, he said,

"Will you kids help with the dishes if Brian needs help? Or see about Scooter? Hannah and I are goin' for a walk."

Guthrie and I both said yes, okay, and Hannah and Adam started walking towards the orchard. I paused at the back door

to look after them, and saw that Adam had reached out and they were walking, holding hands with each other.

7